5th body recovered from site of Kelowna, B.C., crane collapse

Vancouver -

A specialized team has recovered a fifth body from the scene of the Kelowna, B.C., crane collapse.

A spokesperson for the Canada Task Force 1, made up of a team of firefighters, paramedics and engineers, says the body was recovered early Wednesday morning.

Five people died when a crane attached to a high-rise building under construction suddenly collapsed Monday morning while in the process of being dismantled.

"When we arrived on site, we met with the structural collapse engineer already onsite from Kelowna as well as the engineer from the crane company and used them to access their perspective as far as hazards,” said Asst. Chief Dave Boone, director of Canada Task Force 1.

"We of course do our own assessment as well…we engage with our own structural engineer," he explained.

He says the operation was fairly complex with respect to the unsecured load that remained in the building above the victim. He says the team came up with a plan to secure the load.

"Once able to do that, we could remove some debris from the victim and extract the fifth victim," he said.

None of the five have been identified by officials, but Mounties said four were working on the site. The fifth, whose body was buried under the rubble, had been working in a nearby building when part of the crane crashed into it.

One of the men who died was Jared Zook, a 32-year-old who had moved from Edmonton to work as a crane rigger.

His parents told CTV News Tuesday, while visiting the site, that Zook loved his job.

Two others were identified in an online fundraiser as brothers Patrick and Eric Stemmer, whose family business, Stemmer Construction, was also involved in the building of Brooklyn Tower in downtown Kelowna.

The boom of the crane was extended toward the top of the tower, which will be 25 storeys high when completed, when it came crashing down, striking buildings below.

A sixth person was injured in the incident and taken to hospital for treatment of what the RCMP described as non-life-threatening injuries.

It is not yet known what caused the collapse, and investigations are being conducted by both the local RCMP detachment and officials with WorkSafeBC, the province's workers' compensation board.

Following the collapse, a local state of emergency was put in place, which the RCMP said would be lifted when the area had been secured.

At that time, those impacted would be allowed to go in to get their cars and whatever else was left when the area was evacuated.